But industry executives said that in fact the situation had in fact spiralled out of control and that all plant workers needed to leave the plant to avoid excessive exposure to radioactive leaks.

状況は、手にお言えないレベルに達してしまっており（had in fact spiralled out of control）、作業員は、漏れた放射能に過度にさらされないためには、施設を離れる必要があった、と意見を紹介しています。[had in fact spiralledと過去完了が使えれていることに注目。to avoid～は不定詞・副詞的用法]

If all workers do in fact leave the plant, the nuclear fuel in all three reactors is like(ly) to meltdown, which would lead to wholesale releases of radioactive material — by far the largest accident of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.

Troy asked, and gave them all a serious stare.と読めますから、これは「分詞構文」（連続動作）ということになりますね。

類似する「同時動作」ということでは、早大・教育（2006）に、

Using mice and tiny fish, scientists at Children's and elsewhere have been discovering how cells specialize as an embryo develops and trying to imitate that specialization in the laboratory.（早大・教育、2006）

Troy nodded, while he was being satisfied.と読むと、これも「分詞構文」（同時動作）と考えられます。

...Troy was knocked to the ground, causing the referee to call a foul against West High.

これは一番興味深いかもしれません。Troy was knocked to the ground, which caused the referee to call a foul against West High. causingの意味上の主語は前文の内容を受けています。

このように分詞の意味上の主語が前文の主語ではなく、文を受ける文が科学雑誌Natureの最近（3/25）のEditorialに出てきました。

All six (instances of litigation) were settled or dismissed within a year and a half, suggesting that the scale of litigation is not as high as some suspected.[Nature(Editorial) Published online 25 March 2009]

このsuggestingも, which suggests that the scale of litigation is not as high as some suspectedと解することができます。ともに「分詞構文」と言えます。

入試問題に目を向けると、今年の東工大の出題英文にも、

At the same time, another group that slept for eight hours without being trained was never able to figure out the rule, suggesting that sleeping helped only if memories of the task were formed first.(東工大、2009)

という文章が出ていました。必須事項ですので確認しておきましょう。

Stunned, Troy looked around the gym at the crowd yelling, the cheerleaders leaping into the air ...

Stunned, Troy looked around the gymは、As he was stuuned, Troy ...となりますので、文法の参考書に出てくる典型的な「分詞構文」と言えますね。

さて、残りのat the crowd yelling, the cheerleaders leaping into the air ...ですが、ともに「後置修飾」の分詞、ということになります。

2006年4 月11日 (火)

In the Greek peninsula early in the fifth century B.C., there emerged a group of individuals, many of them with beards, who were singularly free of the anxieties about status that tormented their contemporaries. These philosophers were untroubled by either the psychological or the material consequences of a humble position in society; they remained calm in the face of insult, disapproval and poverty. When Socrates saw a pile of gold and jewellery being borne in procession through the streets of Athens, he exclaimed, "Look how many things there are which I don't want." When Alexander the Great passed through Corinth, he visited the philosopher Diogenes and found him sitting under a tree, dressed in rags, with no money to his name. Alexander, the most powerful man in the world, asked if he could do anything to help him. "Yes," replied the philosopher, "if you could step out of the way. You are blocking the sun." Alexander's soldiers were horrified,expecting an outburst of their commander's famous anger. But Alexander only laughed and remarked that if he were not Alexander, he would certainly like to be Diogenes. Antisthenes was told that a great many people in Athens had started to praise him. "Why," he answered, "what have I done wrong?" Empedocles had a similar regard for the intelligence of others. He once lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went around, "I am looking for someone with a mind." Having watched Socrates being insulted in the market place, a passer-by asked him, "Don't you worry about being called names?" "Why? Do you think I should resent it if a stupid horse kicked me?" replied Socrates.[06京都大学（部分）]

◎文法・語法１．there emergedは、there is 構文の変形。there livesなどと同様主語は動詞の後にある名詞。

２．Socrates saw a pile of gold and jewellery being borne in procession through the streets of Athensは、S+V+O+C（現在分詞）の文型。意味合いとしてはCがbeingが書かれていること。a.I heard the song being sung by Nancy.b.I heard the song sung by Nancy.のニュアンスの違い。

３．"Yes," replied the philosopher, "if you could step out of the way. You are blocking the sun."couldは「仮定法過去」。

2006年2 月24日 (金)

"This process of reasoning and analysis can continue in other directions. For example, you might investigate to see if perhaps you have contributed in some way to the situation that made you angry. Also, when you are in the midst of anger, your tendency is to perceive the person who harmed you as 100% bad. But if you analyze further, you will realize that every human heing is composed of both ( ) and negative characteristics, andyou can try to get a more realistic view of the person by attempting to find some positive aspects of the person. "So, with practice, various lines of reasoning and investigation can be used to reduce the force of your anger. This doesn't mean you shouldn't respond, or try to do something if someone tries to harm you. On the contrary, one should take measures to prevent harm to oneself and others, even strong measures. But using analytic methods such as these can help reduce the intensity of your anger, which can have destructive effects, and instead allow you to respond to the situation without a feeling of hatred arising."[２００２年 北海道大学]

◎other directionsの例を文にそってまとめてみましょう。

◎you might investigate to see if perhaps you have contributed in some way to the situation that made you angry.この文章の文章構造を考えてみましょう。

2006年2 月17日 (金)

こんな文章はどうでしょうか？獄中のホリエモンはどうおもうでしょうか？ Economists tend to assume that people are mainly aiming to improve their material standard of living. Disgracing as this idea may be to the human spirit, there is a lot of evidence, based on the way people behave when confronted with choices, to support it. The troubleis, there is also evidence to suggest that money doesn't make you happier--- or not much happier, anyway. Up to now, studies have tended to find that the strongest influence on happiness is employment: people with jobs are very much happier than the unemployed. Low inflation also makes people happier. Income promotes happiness a little, but the effect tends to be small and statistically insignificant. In many countries incomes have risen sharply in recent years. This has not increased happiness overall: national surveys of "subjective well being" have stayed flat. Within countries, comparing people across the income distribution, richer does mean happier, but the effect is not large.[2000年、立教]

1.The troubleとは、この文ではどういうことですか。

2."subjective well being"は、この文に即していうと具体的にどういうことですか。

3.Disgracing as this idea may be to the human spirit,を文脈に合うように接続詞を使って書き換えてみてください。

4.comparing people across the income distribution,どういう使われ方ですか。

◎表現very much happier：比較級はmuchで強調。「少しだけ」はa little。the unemployed=unemployed ( )to support it この不定詞の用法は？

2006年2 月12日 (日)

Freezing technology that truly preserves the quality of fresh fish is relatively new. Developed by the Japanese fishing industry in the 1990's to preserve the catch on long trips,"superfreezing" can reduce the core temperature of a 500-pound tuna to minus 70 degrees in about a day and a half. Packed in artificial snow ground from dry ice and surrounded by liquid nitrogen, that fish can be preserved in good condition for as long as two years. "It's an amazing product," said a restaurant owner who recently bought a medical freezer, [transplant / store / designed /to / organs], to keep tuna in his restaurant's basement.[2005 東京理科大]